Synthesis and Characterizations of Graphene-Like Graphite Using Renewable Precursors Via Chemical Solution Technique

Abstract

Graphene-like graphite (GLG) samples were prepared using sand and sugar composite as a precursor. GLG was synthesized using the chemical solution technique. The produced composite materials dried at a temperature of 120oC in an oven to form a black powder composite material. The structure of the composite was revealed by XRD with narrow diffraction peaks (002), (010) and (004) at 2?=26.603°, 42.466° and 54.794° with d-spacing of 3.34800 Å, 2.12696 Å and 1.67400 Å respectively. The average grain size of the material is 599.54 Å. Preferential crystal orientations obtained from the texture coefficient of the peaks are 2.614, 10.18, and 5.029 respectively. The material shows a hexagonal crystal structure with lattice parameters of a=b=2.4560 and c=6.6960. SEM with EDX also revealed the morphological and elemental composition of the samples. The SEM images show flake-type GLG and EDX analysis shows the presence of carbon, oxygen, silicon, and sulphur at 34.02% at, 45.36% at, 18.86% at and 1.75% at respectively. The material obtained is potential for solid-state batteries due to flake-type structures that enhance large surface area creation for chemical interaction. This technique may provide economical and environmentally friendly approaches for graphene-like graphite in a large scale.